Govt not keen on mandatory vaccination over legal tangles

The government is not keen on implementing a mandatory immunisation programme, a Malacanang official said yesterday, even after the declaration of a measles outbreak in several areas in the Philippines.In a news conference, Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei Nograles yesterday said the government might face legal issues in court if it implemented mandatory immunisation for children.“Mandatory immunisation may not be necessary. I think, perhaps it will be questioned in court somehow,” Nograles told reporters.The Palace official said the government should instead “step up” its immunisation drive, with the help of local government units (LGUs).“You know, the local government units should be involved here, in terms of  (their) contribution to this programme, and in terms of their actions, and even in terms of accountability. I think the LGUs play a very critical and an important part in this immunisation programme and other programmes of the government,” he said.Nograles added that President Rodrigo Duterte had directed the Department of Health (DoH) to boost communication efforts on the importance of vaccination with the active involvement of the Presidential Communications Operations Office.A total of 441 measles cases and five deaths have been reported in Metro Manila, while Central Luzon had 192 cases and four deaths.Aside from the two areas, the Health department expanded the measles-outbreak scope to Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon) Western Visayas and Central Visayas.Meanwhile, San Lazaro Hospital in Manila, in an e-mail sent to Manila Times on Thursday, said it had recorded 56 deaths from the measles outbreak as of Wednesday.In just the first month of 2019, the hospital tallied 1,550 reported cases of measles, in contrast to 2,654 cases and 68 deaths in 2018.Most of the victims were children between three months and four years old.No deaths were reported in the 155 reported cases reported among adults between the ages of 19 and 41.In Western Visayas, a total of 166 measles cases with three suspected deaths were recorded in the region as of Jan 26, 2019, DoH records showed.Dr Mary Jane Juanico, medical co-ordinator of the regional health office’s Child Health Programme, said they still have to determine if the deaths were caused by measles.She attributed the outbreak to low coverage of the DoH’s measles immunisation programme in Region 6 last year.Public support to the programme might have dipped because of the Dengvaxia anti-dengue vaccine controversy, Juanico said.Measles, caused by a virus that infects the respiratory tract, can be passed through direct contact and through the air.Its complications include severe diarrhoea, pneumonia, blindness and even death, according to the Health department.Symptoms of measles included fever, reddening of the eyes, cough and colds and red rashes, the agency said.In Quezon City in Metro Manila, the Quezon City Health Department (QCHD) has recorded a total of 108 measles cases, with eight reported deaths from January 1 to 26.As of February 1, a total of 965 children have been inoculated throughout the city.Amid the outbreak, the House of Representatives also yesterday approved on second reading an act expanding the coverage of the mandatory basic immunisation programme and providing a system in the determination of other types of vaccine-preventable diseases, amending Republic Act (RA) 10152 or the “Mandatory Infants and Children Health Immunisation Act of 2011.”Vaccination for rotavirus, Japanese encephalitis, PCV and HPV were included under the coverage of RA 10152.Sen. Risa Hontiveros sought the resignation of Public Attorney’s Office chief Persida Acosta, whom she blamed for the measles outbreak that led to the death of at least 55 children.Hontiveros claimed that Acosta politicised the Dengvaxia vaccine controversy, which forced parents not to have their children inoculated.